Hiring to remain subdued in second half, says report

Employers in China are adopting a cautious outlook toward hiring in the second half of the year, with only 43 percent keen on increasing headcount, down 16.4 percentage points from the first quarter and below the 50 percent threshold, according to a report by recruitment specialist firm Hudson Global Inc.

The report, however, said China still tops other nations in hiring demand, with the 2015 full-year figure at 51.2.

"This is a seasonal shift as many firms generally step up hiring activity in the first half of the year and trim hiring intentions for the second half as the focus shifts to filling critical, must-have roles," said Lily Bi, general manager of Hudson Shanghai.

Instead of increasing hands, employers tend to become more conservative, with 44.4 percent of the respondents indicating that they would maintain a steady headcount, nearly double from the 19.9 percent seen six months ago.

Information technology and telecommunications will see the highest hiring demand in the second half, with 65.7 percent of the respondents indicating their keenness to boost headcount.

The robust demand in the information technology and telecommunications is in line with the constant growth of the sectors during the past two years. During the second half of 2013, the hiring demand was 41.7 percent and the number increased to 48.4 percent in the second half of last year.

"China is known for its hot talent pool of good quality IT professionals. We are seeing a lot of demand for software developers, especially those with Java and C++ skills, along with those experienced in financial IT, at a time when a growing number of multinational companies are moving their technology support centers to China," said Bi.

Consumer goods have shown the lowest hiring demand in the second half, with only 26.6 percent of the surveyed employers planning to boost headcount, a significant drop from the 64.3 percent seen at the beginning of the year.

Xiamen Wind Power Co Ltd is one of the firms that is planning to boost hiring.

Guo Tianchi, founder of Xiamen Wind Power, said: "Getting the right talent is a perpetual problem for companies. With the government's Internet Plus initiative, I can see that demand for IT talents will remain robust in the next few months."